This post is about food review of a Dublin restaurant I went to last weekend.
Should I quit my job at The Company and try to make it as a food critic? Someone at Ely bar wouldn’t agree…
Menupages.ie is a website where you can review restaurants, every review gives you points, that you can exchange with lunch offers. My profile is cheeseandpears.com (they don’t let you leave a link). I had bad and good experiences. The latest one so far, at Ely wine bar in city centre hasn’t been positive at all. You can see my review here.
Now, this is the reply of an Ely employee.
Hi Cheese & Pears,
My name is and I work for ely winebar here in Dublin.
I am just following up on a comment that you left on http://www.menupages.ie in relation to your experience in ely. (apologies for contacting you through these means, but unfortunately this is my only method of communicating with you).
Firstly I would like to say that at ely our main focus is our customers and the experience they have with us – it is with regret that I read your review.
Our stew has been a signature dish on our menu for the past ten years, and is organic and from our family farm in the Burren, Co. Clare. There have been times where we have taken the stew off the menu, but we have had to promptly put it back on due to popular demand. It is unfortunate that you didn’t enjoy yours and a real pity that this was not brought to our attention on the day and we could have looked into this further and made any amendments that may have made your visit an enjoyable one.
You reference to our ice-cream offering is incorrect and mis-leading. It is an offer for sale at €5.95, not €7.00 and for that it is three large scoops of our own homemade ice-cream and our home biscuit. Having not ordered this I feel that it is a very unfair judgment on your part.
It is also worth noting that our venison dish is an offer for sale at €27.95 and not €30.00 as quoted in your review thus again incorrect and mis-leading.
Lastly I fail to understand your reference to a 10% tip. It is quite clearly printed on all of our menus (in all three ely venues) that “Service is not included except on parties of 6 or more when a 12.5% gratuity will be added to your bill”.
We have always, and will continue to welcome feedback from our customers on our offering, and have always trained every member of our floor staff to check their tables regularly (without intruding) to ensure that everything is as it should be. On the rare occasion that something is amiss, this allows us the opportunity to rectify any problems there and then and ensure that our customers leave happy.
Perhaps had we know of your disappointment with our offering during your visit it would have not only have afforded us the opportunity to clarify and correct any issues you had but also allowed us the opportunity to reassure you that we are committed to offering the best produce and best customer service possible.
The time this person took to reply to my poor review deserved a reply, so here we go.
Our stew has been a signature dish on our menu for the past ten years, and is organic and from our family farm in the Burren, Co. Clare. It is unfortunate that you didn’t enjoy yours and a real pity that this was not brought to our attention on the day and we could have looked into this further and made any amendments that may have made your visit an enjoyable one.
There was no amendment to do, I did like your stew, it’s just that it tasted like boiled meat. There’s nothing wrong with that and indeed it was really good, but I was (and still am) puzzled. I thought that the “a stew boiled is a stew spoiled” was one of those simple, unquestionable truth, but I’m having doubts.
You reference to our ice-cream offering is incorrect and mis-leading. It is an offer for sale at €5.95, not €7.00 and for that it is three large scoops of our own homemade ice-cream and our home biscuit. Having not ordered this I feel that it is a very unfair judgment on your part.
I didn’t remember the price of the ice-cream, so I looked in the Menupages menu. And yes, I admit that sarcasm about something I didn’t order is sort of a cheap shot.
It is also worth noting that our venison dish is an offer for sale at €27.95 and not €30.00 as quoted in your review thus again incorrect and mis-leading.
I trusted my friend when he said “30 euros for a venison dish, are they crazy?” Why did he order it then? I hear you asking. That’s a mystery to me too. Anyway, he obviously rounded to 30. Accept my apologies for not doublechecking, but even with €2.05 euros less, I still think the dish was either too expensive or too small.
Lastly I fail to understand your reference to a 10% tip. It is quite clearly printed on all of our menus (in all three ely venues) that “Service is not included except on parties of 6 or more when a 12.5% gratuity will be added to your bill”.
When the waiters deserve it, and the guys that served us that night surely did, I tip 10% anyway. My reference to the tip was just an advice for those who don’t read through the menu and don’t check the receipt before leaving the restaurant.
